Discouraged! 1 month of counting cals/working out w/ no resu

One thing I'd suggest, especially if you're new to calorie counting - buy a food scale, and weigh and measure EVERYTHING. It's so easy to overestimate your portions, even if you're "measuring" them. A few small over-estimations throughout the day can add up to hundreds of calories. Try weighing everything you eat for a week or two, and see if you notice a difference in your loss.

Watch sodium and fat intake as well, not just calories as that can affect weight loss/gain

It is SUCH a myth that fat intake can make you fat. You can eat a diet of 100% fat, and as long as you're in a calorie deficit you'll lose weight.

I know we are all on here for weight loss but........keep in mind that any and every change to better health is worth it. I weigh myself 1 x a week in the morning and I found Monday is a good day for me. I make my goal each day to exercise and eat my calories as close to my limit as poss. I have completely forgot about the weight I want to drop and I am staying goal set with exercise. Ex: make a goal of min., miles, sets, weight amounts, reps., whatever. Once you meet it BEAT IT choose another just a bit higher. Keep pressing onward. It took a long time to gain the weight so as long as your working hard at getting healthy your a winner! It will come off

I increased my calories by a couple hundred to four hundred a day, with an occasional day of eating more, I think that might be part of the reason I'm still losing even though anyone can see by my diary that I'm not a clean eater by any means. You could always try adding some calories on top of the exercise calories you're supposed to eat back and see if it helps.

Hey you are doing great! Stay in there! You may not be eating the right foods. Empty calories won't help, they'll just convince your body to not lose weight. Make sure you are getting enough protein, fat, and carbs. But try not to eat any sugar.

The other possibility may be that since you are running so much, you may be gaining muscle. I'd say switch up your workout- try some weight lifting or aerobics to balance your body.

This is for all those elliptical users out there...

These machines almost ALWAYS overestimate calories for some reason. Almost every other machine at the gym is about accurate. I know, you can enter your weight and age, blah blah. But they drastically overestimate it. If my machine says I burned 600, I actually probably burned 350-400. I have found that they overestimate usually from 30-40%, which can seriously screw up your diet if you rely on this machine a lot.

I "eat back" the calories that I burn (which you should if you are on a very low calorie diet, you should be eating 1200 net at least), so I was basically doing the classic American underestimating what I ate, and overestimating what I burned. You should wear a HR monitor and get some ideas of what you're burning on your elliptical workouts, or do what I've done and switch to another machine.

I've yo-yo dieted forever trying to lose 25 pounds, and I've finally got on track and got REALISTIC - I've bought a food scale and heart rate monitor to keep accurate counts, it seems like it is the key to my success and motivation. Good luck!

I know the feeling.. i was expressing this to my bootcamp instructor.. and when he looked at my fitnesspal nutrients / summary he immediately said.. Oh I know your problem... i was like what? Im staying within my calories.. and he said.. yes you are, BUT you are eating too many carbs! I needed more protein and less carbs.. he suggested i gradually trim my carbs,, like less than 100 a day and try to aim for less than 60.. sure enough once i did this the weight has started to move again. Maybe its worth a try?

(In reply to yuckidah) Dont eat any less!!! You are doing great and I know you don't want to hear those things you listed, but they are probably true. When you start exercising, your body wants to keep more fat because it thinks it needs it. If you take away more food, it'll convince your body to hold on to every pound.

My suggestion- workout for a month, keep your food the same. DO NOT weigh yourself, instead get a pair of jeans or a dress thats a size smaller than you usually wear. At the end of the month, I bet you will fit into those jeans.

I say dont weigh yourself because its not about the number, its about how you fit into your clothes.

Thank you, I think you're right - I'm going to have to get my other-half to hide the scales!
My clothes ARE feeling a bit looser so I think I may be getting inch results (I never measure) so maybe I'd be best to focus on that rather than weight for a while.

In response to other comments sprinkled throughout the thread:
- I weigh/measure everything I eat, there is no guessing. I have digital food scales. Again I promise you, there is no cheating. This is a legitimate issue (the lack of weight loss on a diet <1200 cal) and I know it sounds ridiculous. I'm not sure how many times I can reiterate this - my food tracking is 100% accurate. I'm a perfectionist - there's no way I'm making any mistakes, lol.
- I am already low carb. I eat one slice of gluten free bread a day (breakfast), and 1 serving of kumera/sweet potato approx once a week, and only a small sprinkling of anything else. Certainly low compared to the average/normal intake.
- I don't snack - I probably should
- I don't drink enough water - I know I should
- I'm wondering if the calorie cycling (confusing my body) might be a good idea - my system has been starved for more than 20years - it EXPECTS to only be given this crazy amount of food. Maybe it's time to really shake it up. If I can get my head around that I'll give it a shot.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I realise most are aimed at the OP but I've read every single post

Listen to this;

I would suggest upping your intake by 100 calories each week for a month, and see if that gets you anywhere. 1300 for one week, then 1400, then 1500, etc. If you start experiencing more weight loss at any of those net intakes then obviously stick with it, since everyone's BMR and maintenance levels are different.

I personally didn't see my last five pounds come off until I was getting 1450 calories, which is just under maintenance for me.

Ignore this;

DO NOT EAT the calories you work off my working out. Eat 1200 calories and that's it. I was the same way and I stopped eating what I worked off and the results were awesome!

I totally understand abt the scale thing, I've just given up on the scale and just keep going. U will tell a difference in your clothes, that's the real difference...